Evie Nesbitt’s Fight Against Leukemia

In December of 2020, Alex & Rachel Nesbitt heard the words that no parents ever want to hear – “your daughter has cancer”. Evie, just 6 months old at the time, was diagnosed with Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (ALL). Spending the majority of the last 20 months at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, Evie has spent birthdays, holidays, and some of her exciting first milestones away from not only one of her parents, but also her older sister, Gwen. At the time of diagnosis, Rachel’s priority became Evie’s care, and she chose to leave a job in the veterinary field that she loved dearly. Alex, Evie’s dad (who is also the best Santa Clause ever known to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital), had recently started a new job and continued to work as much as possible while taking care of Gwen, the house, and everything else that comes along with life continuing to flow outside of the hospital walls. Evie kept fighting. In April of 2021, the celebratory news was shared that Evie’s marrow showed 0% leukemia cells! She began her maintenance therapy, and after almost 6 months of inpatient treatment, Evie was finally going home.

In March of 2022, the Nesbitt family received the gut wrenching news that Evie had relapsed, but after another a month of fighting, Evie’s bone marrow came back negative for leukemia cells. She was once again back in remission. This exciting news was very much celebrated, but the Nesbitt family knew it would be a bumpy road ahead as a bone marrow transplant was in Evie’s near future. May 28th was cell day, the day before her 2nd birthday. Just a few weeks later on June 17th, Evie’s new cells reached 100% engraphtment. Another reason to celebrate! Less than a month later, on July 9th,, a day that was full of joy, happy tears, and excitement, Evie was reunited with her sister for a special parade. Her cancer journey had reached the most amazing milestone – she was coming home after having a bone marrow transplant.

On July 30th, after just a couple short weeks at home, Rachel and Alex were told that one of their biggest fears was reality. Leukemia cells had been found in Evie’s routine bloodwork. She had again relapsed.

Admitted for another round of inpatient chemotherapy, Evie continues to smile and fight like the little warrior that she is. Rachel has continued to remain Evie’s primary caretaker, and while Alex is able to have time away from his job, it’s unpaid. Our goal is to help eliminate as much financial stress as possible, and provide the Nesbitt family some well-deserved peace of mind. We are Evie strong.

The Nesbitts also have Venmo: @nezzy